What's With All The Stabbings?

[Barsel]

Everyday I read the Manchester Evening News online, and everyday there has been at least one stabbing somewhere in the city.
Is it all drug related, and do you get a lot of stabbings in your part of the country?
There used to be a lot of it in London, but I haven't heard of as many recently.

[emmie]

just as many in London, i thought i heard on the news that 80 people have been killed since the beginning of the year by knife, gun crime,

[barry1010]

Common in the West Midlands, too - knife crime is on the rise countrywide, sadly
Statistics up to March 2021
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04304/

[emmie]

this was on BBC news, i can't find stats to October, its terrifying to be honest, young lives mostly, a total waste.

[Barsel]

Hi Emmie. I suppose there are more in the big cities, but it just seems to be getting worse and nobody seems to be doing anything about it.
I have 2 grandchildren who are 15 yrs old and I worry about them more than I ever worried about their mothers when they were that age.

[barry1010]

I think there should be a mandatory 5 year prison sentence for everyone caught carrying a knife. Whether it would act as a deterrent, I don't know.

[emmie]

that's because knives seem to be easier to get, some of those recovered by the police have to be seen to be believed, some as tall as a man, machete and zombie knives, really horrible.

[Barsel]

Thanks for the link Barry.
Wonder why Greater Manchester figures have been excluded?

[Barsel]

Are there any statistics to say it's drug related?

[barry1010]

The link states that Manchester has been excluded because the force was undercounting knife crime before 2018

[emmie]

many must be, gang related too, though some of those stabbed just seem to be innocent bystanders, often going home or to school, frightening.

[Barsel]

Some police forces are not fit for purpose.
I think we have a new boss now so hopefully things will improve.
Time will tell.

[tiggerblue10]

It was reported last week that the police often show the weapons they seize on social media. It was questioned whether this was a good idea and many said it made the situation worse.

Apart from going full big brother on the whole country with cctv on every street corner I don't think stabbings will ever stop.

[emmie]

it won't ever be cured, this will go on as long as there are gangs where respect is a byword. and that these gangs give its members somewhere to supposedly belong, a purpose in life.

[barry1010]

Barsel, don't blame the police. They get the offenders in to court for possessing a knife (current sentence max 4 years in prison) and the courts are sentencing them to a few months, or giving them suspended sentences.
The prisons are full to bursting - because the police are doing their job and arresting criminals, putting them through the justice system - but the courts have the last say.
We need more prisons.

[emmie]

there are cctv on every street corner, in one little area that i know there are 350 cameras, they are often hidden so you don't necessarily know they are there.

[emmie]

i do know about the cameras because a friend told me where they are.

[Barsel]

Barry, I didn't mean in that way, I meant in the under counting and I believe under logging reports and complaints.

[barry1010]

emmie, there are still lots of areas with no CCTV - there are none where I live with the exception of cameras on one set of traffic lights which are there to catch people crossing on red and driving with no road tax.

[Bobbisox1]

We seem to fare quite well here looking at the maps

[emmie]

many are situated when they can't be spotted.